PHYS 4481 - Quantum Information Processing

(crosslisted) AEP 4812, CS 4812
(PBS-AS, PHS-AS, SMR-AS)

Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: a prior course in quantum mechanics (such as PHYS 3316 or AEP 3610). Prior familiarity with group theory is very helpful. Co-meets with AEP 7681/PHYS 7681.

P. Ginsparg.

Hardware that exploits quantum phenomena can dramatically alter the nature of computation. Though constructing a general purpose quantum computer remains a formidable technological challenge, there has been much recent experimental progress. In addition, the theory of quantum computation is of interest in itself, offering new perspectives on the nature of computation and information, as well as providing novel insights into the conceptual puzzles posed by quantum theory. This course is intended for physicists, unfamiliar with computational complexity theory or cryptography, and for computer scientists and mathematicians with prior exposure to quantum mechanics. Topics include: simple quantum algorithms, error correction, cryptography, teleportation, and uses of quantum computing devices either currently available or to be available in the near future.